WHL: Royals use five-goal third to rally past Blazers

VICTORIA - The Victoria Royals scored five goals in the third period to rally past the Kamloops Blazers 6-4 on Tuesday in Western Hockey League action.

Austin Carroll, Alex Gogolev, Brett Cote and Steven Hodges all had power-play goals in the third for Victoria (22-17-3), while Jack Walker also scored in the final 20 minutes of play. Hodges had scored earlier in the game, at the 15:04 mark of the second. Patrik Polivka made 26 saves for the win.

Tim Bozon scored in the third for Kamloops (29-13-4) but it wasn't enough to derail the Royals. Matt Needham, Cole Ully and Colin Smith rounded out the Blazers offence. Goalie Cole Cheveldave stopped 19 shots.

Kamloops struck first in the second period as Needham had the puck bounce off him from a wrap-around attempt from Ully for his seventh goal of the season to make it 1-0.

The Royals answered back later in the period as Hodges scored his 13th goal of the year, splitting three defenders to tie the game 1-1.

The Blazers retook the lead late in the second with of back-to-back goals. The first from Ully on the power play, and then 32 seconds later Smith scored his 28th goal of the season to make it 3-1 Kamloops after 40 minutes of play.

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Kootenay 4, Saskatoon 3

SASKATOON -- Collin Shirley scored the game-winning shootout goal for the Kootenay Ice in a 4-3 win over the Saskatoon Blades in Western Hockey League action on Tuesday.

Levi Cable also scored in the shootout for the Ice (18-25-1).

Kootenay's Sam Reinhart, Jordyn Boyd and Luke Philp scored in regulation. Boyd and Philp scored in the final 3:15 of the second period to give the Ice a 3-1 lead.

Matt Revel, Dalton Thrower and Michael Ferland replied for Saskatoon (21-20-2). Ferland scored the equalizer at 12:35 of the third period with his second goal of the season. Josh Nicholls scored the Blades' lone goal in the shootout.

Mackenzie Skapsi made 31 saves for the Ice, while Andrey Makarov stopped 26 shots for Saskatoon.

Both teams capitalized on the power play, with Kootenay going 1 for 2 while Saskatoon capitalized on 1 of 5.

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Swift Current 4, Moose Jaw 3

MOOSE JAW, Sask. - Graham Black scored the shootout winner as the Swift Current Broncos edged the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-3 on Tuesday in Western Hockey League action.

Captain Adam Lowry struck twice for Swift Current (22-20-5), while Dillon Heatherington had a goal as well. Eetu Laurikainen made 19 saves and turned away three skaters in the shootout for the win.

The Broncos extended their winning streak to five games and Lowry extended his point streak to 21 games.

Brayden Point, Jordan Messier and Sam Fioretti supplied the offence for Moose Jaw (14-23-8), as Justin Paulic made 34 saves for the Warriors.

"As a team we've been battling with some lapses. We've been in a lot of close games. Recently we've been able to come out on top in those close games, but we have to learn how to play with the lead," said Lowry. "We're an inexperienced team when it comes to winning and as the season progresses we're going to have to learn how to close out teams. You can't take a shift off with a few minutes left in a period."

Heatherington scored for the Broncos to go along with Lowry's two second period goals as the Broncos took a 3-1 lead. But then Messier and Fioretti struck in the final three minutes of the second to tie the 3-3.

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Tri-City 6, Everett 1

EVERETT, Wash. - The Tri-City Americans were perfect on special teams as they defeated the Everett Silvertips 6-1 Tuesday night in Western Hockey League action.

Tri-City was 3 for 3 on the power play and 2 for 2 on the penalty kill, and that success helped the Americans take control of the game at the beginning of the second period.

Brian Williams, Michal Plutnar, Parker Bowles, Justin Gutierrez, Mitch Topping and Jesse Mychan scored for Tri-City (25-16-3). Luke Lee-Knight, who earned the win in goal, made the best of his 32 saves in the first period when the game was still close.